Civic Society calls for a rethink of development plans for East of England Showground

A heritage and development watchdog has called for a rethink of plans to build 1,500 homes and a leisure village on the East of England Showground.

The Peterborough Civic Society is urging the proposals be rejected by councillors and that a proper masterplan for the Showground is put together.

The Society has submitted its objections to Peterborough City Council, which is expected to consider two outline planning applications for the Showground later this month.

One of the plans proposed by the Showground promoter AEPG, calls for 850 homes plus a leisure village, school, hotel and care village.

The second is for 650 homes only on land already allocated for housing in the council's Local Plan.

But the civic society says the two applications should be combined as the 650 dwellings alone, with infrastructure, community, leisure, and retail facilities excluded, is untenable

It states: “The development of community and leisure facilities are linked to the 850 housing units rather than 650 housing units so there will be no such facilities, including the primary school, if the former application is not permitted.

"We do not think this is acceptable and the two applications should not be considered separately.”

The Society is also concerned the proposed community facilities do not include junior or secondary schools or health facilities.

A major headache is the likely high volume of transport and traffic.

The Society calls for special consideration for an enhanced bus service to and from the site and that major events should merit a specific shuttle bus service.

It adds that the planned central green area should be designed to allow for informal ball games so residents can have this facility without having to pay for the hire of the proposed leisure centre outdoor pitches.

It also points out that the Showground masterplan submitted by AEPG does not include the adjoining Milton Estates Land.

It says this is a problem because while the Milton Estates land is not within the control of AEPG, access to it is only through the Showground.

The Society states that this means ‘any future development of the area excluded from the masterplan, whether for housing or employment sites, will have major implications for the current proposals.

It warns: “It appears shortsighted to ignore this in the masterplan.”